It's 1848. Young Frenchwoman Madeline Minot (Leslie Caron) arrives in NYC to see Charles Francois Thevenet (Louis Calhern). He is the wealthy grandfather of her fiancé and had been with Napoleon. His grandson hopes that he's willing to support the Republic. She is introduced to Lorna Bounty (Barbara Stanwyck) who manages his affairs and tries to keep Minot away from him. She pushes her way in to ask for money to help the cause. Bounty and the butler Martin seems to be waiting for the old man to die and leave the fortune to them. They are not happy that Minot is invited to stay. The only man who helps her is the broke Dupin (Joseph Cotten), the man with a cloak. Minot tells him that they're trying to kill Thevenet.
The movie starts very simply and there is no mystery. There is some overacting and unimpressive writing at the beginning. The movie does improve a little. Stanwyck is quite good as a cold calculating character. She's like a black widow spider. However it's not as dark as it needs to be. I wanted the Dupin character to be more complicated and more murky. The movie never gets truly interesting. There is a reveal of the name at the end but I don't see it as that fascinating or that enlightening. It answers a question that nobody is even asking.
The movie starts very simply and there is no mystery. There is some overacting and unimpressive writing at the beginning. The movie does improve a little. Stanwyck is quite good as a cold calculating character. She's like a black widow spider. However it's not as dark as it needs to be. I wanted the Dupin character to be more complicated and more murky. The movie never gets truly interesting. There is a reveal of the name at the end but I don't see it as that fascinating or that enlightening. It answers a question that nobody is even asking.